Dragon Lock

Now this may seem like a somewhat unusual gift for a toddler but it turns out that our son developed a fascination for keys and locks and I wanted him to have a memorabilia of this period when he grows up. “key” (or more precisely “kagi” in one of his 2 native languages) is actually the 4th word he ever learnt to speak out and he spent hours and hours trying to fit random keys in every nook and cranny of our apartment, muttering “Key… Key… Key…” to himself.

The design as many of you may already have recognized comes from the great book “Making Working Wooden Locks” by Tim Detweiler. I just tweaked the original plans to adapt the dimensions to the available timber and to metric sizes. I also added the carved key-hole cover detail. You can get a glimpse of the moving parts inside halfway through the video down at the bottom.

Woods used were:Walnut for the faces of the lock and key shank.Ash for the lock inner mechanism, shackle, spring and key-hole cover.Ebony for the rest of the key.

I am quite proud of the fact that 90% of the stock used was hand planed from rough timber which is a new step for me. It is also the last project I will ever make on my (re)tired old workmate and on my kitchen counter (more on this in a soonish to come project)

This was all in all a very fun project to build and the looks on my son’s face when he plays with the lock is completely worth the time invested (roughly 2 weekends in cumulated time).

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks everyone for the great inspiration.

Stumpy had a two by fore contest and I made a lock from the same book out of a pine two by fore. I later had found this project and the care and skill you placed in it are wonderful. I to wish to make a second lock with a bit more care and a better wood. I hope to reach the skill you have achieved.

Yes Dave,I saw your entry in the challenge and really liked it, especially the way you tackled the shackle with the 2×4 constraint. I am also thinking of making another lock someday as it was a very enjoyable project.If I ever manage to get my hands on the second book on wooden locks, I would like to make the wooden safe (some kind of secret box for my daughter)